Koroberi Blog

So what if the Big Three go belly up!

Because before the Big Three, we had the Medium Thirty. And before the Medium Thirty, we had the Small Three Hundred. Carriage makers, engineers and engine builders with names like David Buick, Charles Nash, Louis Chevrolet, Walter Chrysler and, of course, Henry Ford. And while Flint, Michigan had become a center of horse-drawn carriage production, carriage builders existed all over this vast country, meeting demand with local production, made to order, just in time (even North Carolina’s own Corbitt Automobile Company figured in the mix for a period of time).

Fast forward from the early 1900’s to a century later. As local carriage makers moved, consolidated, merged and rebranded during the birth of the American auto industry, we eventually ended up with our current colossus of bloated, mismanaged, centralized and inefficient assembly centers, better known as the Big Three.

But perhaps this is exactly where we need to be. Perhaps we are actually at the right place, at the right time, with the right technologies, to encourage the type of turnaround the automobile industry, and the American public, is begging for.

Imagine that instead of dozens of huge assembly plants we have thousands of local assembly stations, about the size and shape of your favorite car dealer. Imagine an automated supply chain linking the internet to the second and third tier suppliers already in the business of making pretty much everything that goes into a car. Imagine placing an order for exactly the vehicle you need, customized from a menu of options, and then picking up that vehicle a few days later at your local assembly station/dealer. Think about where car manufacturing could actually be in 2009. Sure, we might have to compromise on some standard chassis dimensions, but no more than we already do today.

The failure of the big three could be one of the greatest economic boosters this economy has ever seen. North Carolina’s Research Triangle is already home to two of the nation’s most ardent champions of manufacturing reform. Geomagic’s Ping Fu has long championed the possibilities of mass customization using new technologies and production techniques. UNC’s John Kasarda not only developed North Carolina’s Global Transpark, but has provided a glimpse of what the future of manufacturing centers could look like. Under the guidance of visionaries like these, true distributed manufacturing on a just in time basis of locally assembled vehicles is a concept whose time could be just around the corner. While it would make too much sense to divert TARP bailout dollars from the casinos of Wall Street and our friendly bankers to fund early stage development, it would not take much to turn the corner sooner than later.

I’m ready to order my customized “Tarheel 3000″ Carolina blue convertible today, the hybrid edition with the special game day package. No need to deliver. I’ll drop by next week and pick it up myself. See you then.